SMSA (Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts)
New Book Highlights
BIOGRAPHY
| Clode, Danielle | The wasp and the orchid |
| Roberts, Andrew | Churchill: walking with destiny |
Churchill: walking with destiny / Andrew Roberts
Roberts serves up an extraordinary biography of Winston Churchill. A resolutely pro-British empire “child of the Victorian era” who was emotionally neglected by his aristocratic father and frivolous American-raised mother, Churchill by his 20s had already reported from, fought in, and sometimes written books about imperial struggles in such places as Cuba, Sudan, India, and South Africa. He leveraged fame due to an escape from Boer captivity to win an election to British parliament in 1900 at age 25. As first lord of the admiralty during WWI, he was scapegoated for the military fiasco of Gallipoli in 1915 and cast into the political wilderness, which strengthened his nonconformist, independent nature, helping him when he became prime minister in 1940. Roberts captures Churchill’s close working relationship with FDR, his distrust of his chiefs of staff, and his excessive faith in Stalin’s promises in 1945. He also captures the man, dispelling the myth that Churchill was prone to depression and revealing his deep love for his wife, Clementine; his egotism, his wit, his loyalty to friends, his penchant sometimes for “selfishness, insensitivity, and ruthlessness”; and his “sybaritic” love of good drink and cigars. This biography is exhaustively researched, beautifully written and paced, deeply admiring but not hagiographic, and empathic and balanced in its judgments—a magnificent achievement. (Publishers Weekly, 4 September 2018)
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CLASSICS
| Doyle, Arthur Conan | The hound of the Baskervilles |
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GENERAL FICTION
| Adelaide, Debra | Zebra |
| Alger, Cristina | The banker’s wife |
| Barton, Fiona | The suspect |
| Benedict, Marie | The only woman in the room |
| Best, Gillian | The last wave |
| Buist, Anne | This I would kill for |
| Collette, Katherine | The helpline |
| Dettmann, Jessica | How to be second best |
| Dhand, Roxane | The pearler’s wife |
| Du Maurier, Daphne | Jamaica Inn |
| Fernandez, Marc | Mala vida |
| Finder, Joseph | Judgment |
| Guillory, Jasmine | The proposal |
| Halliday, Lisa | Asymmetry |
| Hepworth, Sally | The mother-in-law |
| Lake, Alex | The last lie |
| Leather, Stephen | Tall order |
| Lescroart, John | The rule of law |
| Macgregor, Virginia | You found me |
| Makkai, Rebecca | The great believers |
| McGuire, Michael | Flight risk |
| Moretti, Kate | In her bones |
| Murnane, Gerald | The plains |
| Obioma, Chigozie | An orchestra of minorities |
| Orange, Tommy | There there |
| Perry, Thomas | The burglar |
| Quinn, Terence J. | The scoop |
| Quirk, Matthew | The night agent (large print) |
| Rous, Emma | The au pair |
| Slimani, Leila | Adele |
| Spence, Jennifer | The lost girls |
| Tokarczuk, Olga | Flights |
| Turner, Kerri | The last days of the Romanov dancers |
| Veletzos, Roxanne | The girl they left behind |
| Viggers, Karen | The orchardist’s daughter |
The girl they left behind / Roxanne Veletzos
A Jewish couple in Bucharest, Romania, are forced to leave their four-year-old daughter on the doorstep of an apartment building, as they face imminent death from advancing German troops. The girl is adopted by Anton and Despina, a wealthy couple who own a chain of stores. Little Natalia becomes the light of their lives. They fill their days with parties and extravagance, enjoying their bourgeois experience. Natalia fills her days with classical piano and basking in her parent’s adoration. Anton, filled with the memories of his own destitute background, befriends Victor, a poor, young political student hopeful of an egalitarian future. Life changes direction and the family finds themselves scorned by the leaders of Soviet-invaded Bucharest. Bombings, illness and arrests spread fear as the family slowly lose their their property, their livelihood and, ultimately, their freedom. Victor comes back into Natalia’s life as she reaches adulthood. She is angry that he abandoned their family as he rose in the political ranks of the new regime. But he holds the key to her escape from this existence and, again, people who love her face the ultimate test of sacrifice. Her future, will come at a tremendous cost. This novel exudes parental love; Natalia’s parents (both sets) are unrelenting in securing their child’s freedom. This novel is made all the more spectacular and tragic knowing that this story was based on the experience of the author’s mother. (Good Reading Magazine, November 2018)
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GRAPHIC NOVELS
| Evans, Kate | Threads |
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HISTORICAL FICTION
| Gowar, Imogen Hermes | The mermaid and Mrs Hancock (large print) |
The mermaid and Mrs Hancock / Imogen Hermes Gowar
The mermaid of the title is a dubious specimen delivered to Jonah Hancock by the master of one of his ships that ply the high seas. After the creature causes a sensation in London, Angelica Neal, a gorgeous, narcissistic courtesan, is enlisted by her former mentor, Mrs. Chapell, the proprietress of a high-class brothel, to “entertain” Hancock so he’ll agree to bring his exhibit to Mrs. Chapell’s celebrated institution. Smitten and lovelorn, Hancock is rebuffed by Angelica, who is in the midst of another love affair and jokingly dares Hancock to bring her another mermaid. It’s only after she’s abandoned and left destitute by her feckless love that Angelica realizes there might be something to Hancock after all. That purported sea creature brings an element of mystery to a novel alive with wit and humor. Gowar has a marvelous gift for the felicitous phrase and excels in astute social commentary, especially in descriptions of the lavish household goods, clothing, and food that money can buy. Angelica’s gradual perception of the shallowness of her hermetic world is counterpointed by the blossoming of Hancock’s niece, a shy 14-year-old, who comes into her own as his housekeeper. This is, indeed, a kind of fairy tale, one whose splendid combination of myth and reality testifies to Gowar’s imagination and talent. (Publishers Weekly, 2 July 2018)
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MYSTERY
| Berkeley, Anthony | The poisoned chocolates case |
| Berkeley, Anthony | Trial and error |
| Blaedel, Sara | The midnight witness |
| Bradley, C. Alan | The golden tresses of the dead |
| Bude, John | The Sussex Downs murder |
| Burke, James Lee | The new Iberia blues |
| Bush, Christopher | The perfect murder case |
| Camilleri, Andrea | The overnight kidnapper |
| Carver, Will | Good Samaritans |
| Chaney, JoAnn | As long as we both shall live |
| Crispin, Edmund | The moving toyshop |
| Hahl, Arne | Hunted |
| Delaney, Luke | A killing mind |
| Dorsey, Tim | No sunscreen for the dead (large print) |
| Fielden, T. P. | A quarter past dead |
| Fox, Candice | Gone by midnight |
| Froest, Frank | The Grell mystery |
| Gentill, Sulari | All the tears in China |
| Gleason, Colleen | Murder in the Oval Library (large print) |
| Herron, Mick | The drop |
| Holmén, Martin | Slugger |
| Kellerman, Jonathan | A measure of darkness |
| Kernick, Simon | We can see you |
| Kim, Ŏn-su | The plotters |
| King, Laurie R. | Island of the Mad |
| Krentz, Jayne Ann | Untouchable |
| Lowndes, Marie Belloc | The lodger |
| Luna, Louisa | Two girls down |
| Meredith, Anne | Portrait of a murderer |
| Miscellaneous | Amsterdam noir |
| Mooney, Chris | The snow girls |
| Neel, Janet | Death on site |
| Neel, Janet | Death’s bright angel |
| Patterson, James | Liar liar |
| Patterson, James | House next door |
| Preston, Douglas J. | Verses for the dead |
| Pronzini, Bill | The flimflam affair |
| Reavley, Betsy | Murder in the dark |
| Simenon, Georges | Pietr the Latvian |
| Sveistrup, Soren | The chestnut man |
| Templeton, Aline | Carrion comfort |
| Thorogood, Robert | Murder in the Caribbean |
| Todd, Charles | The Black Ascot |
| Vincent, M. B. | Jess Castle and the eyeballs of death |
| Waller, Anita | Murder undeniable |
| Wilkinson, Ellen Cicely | The division bell mystery |
Gone by midnight / Candice Fox
Seven parents go to dinner in a hotel restaurant, leaving their four young sons eating pizza and watching movies in one of the rooms upstairs. A parent checks on them every hour. All goes well until Sara Farrow checks at midnight and her son, Richie, is missing. The boys say they never left the room and CCTV footage confirms he didn’t leave the hotel. But there’s no trace of him. Although the police investigate, Sara engages the unlikeliest private investigators in Crimson Lake: disgraced former cop Ted Conkaffey and convicted killer Amanda Pharrell. Despite the hostility towards the pair from the local police, Ted and Amanda take on the case and soon start uncovering motives and discrepancies in evidence. Throw in a police officer with a specific grudge against Amanda, Ted’s strained relations with his ex-wife and a potential bikie-police gang war and you have all the ingredients for a fast-paced, well-plotted thriller. Ted is one of Australia’s most hated men as a (wrongly) accused paedophile, while Amanda was convicted as a teenager of murdering another teenager. They are flawed yet likeable characters and their personal stories are as interesting as the crime being investigated. The steamy tropical weather of Cairns, with mosquitoes and crocs in the swamps, is almost a character in itself. This is the third book in Candice Fox’s ‘Crimson Lake’ series and the first I’ve read. There’s enough backstory from the previous novels that this can be read as a stand-alone novel. (Good Reading magazine, February 2019)
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NON FICTION
| Brown, Rachel | Trace | 364.152 BROW |
| Edwards, Martin | The story of classic crime in 100 books | 823.087 EDWA |
| Greer, Germaine | The female eunuch | 305.42 GREE |
| Macy, Beth | Dopesick | 362.290 MACY |
| McGirr, Michael | Books that saved my life | 028.9 MCGI |
The story of classic crime in 100 books / Martin Edwards
Written as a companion to the British Library’s Crime Classics series of reprints, this descriptive critical catalogue of 100 crime and mystery novels (mostly British) published in the first half of the 20th century is irresistible for aficionados and a reliable reading list for newcomers. Edwards’ picks, most published during detective fiction’s golden age between the two world wars, range chronologically from Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) to Julian Symons’s The 31st of February (1950) and include, in addition to many of the usual suspects, a few outliers sure to enliven debates among diehard fans. He groups his selections into 24 chapters that cover numerous aspects of the literature—the great detectives, the fair-play mystery (epitomized by Ronald Knox’s The Body in the Silo), the miraculous or locked-room mystery (a specialty of John Dickson Carr), country house and manor murder mysteries, and so on—and whose ordering shows classic tropes giving way to newer approaches more resonant with modern times. A crime novelist in his own right, Edwards brings a specialist’s discerning eye to discussions of each book’s significance, and without giving away key plot points. This is an exemplary reference book sure to lead readers to gems of mystery and detective fiction. (Publishers Weekly, 17 April 2017)
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ROMANCE
| Allen, Louise | The earl’s practical marriage |
| Gaston, Diane | A lady becomes a governess |
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SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
| Carey, M. R. | Someone like me |
| Caruso, Melissa | The tethered mage |
| Cherryh, C. J. | Emergence |
| Novik, Naomi | Spinning silver |
| Taylor, Laini | Strange the dreamer |
| Walker, Karen Thompson | The dreamers |
Spinning silver / Naomi Novik
This gorgeous, complex, and magical novel, grounded in Germanic, Russian, and Jewish folklore but richly overlaid with a cohesive, creative story of its own, rises well above a mere modern re- imagining of classic tales. Novik (Uprooted) begins the story through the eyes of Miryem, a Jewish moneylender’s daughter, whose pride in her ability to wring payments from borrowers draws the demanding attention of the terrifying, otherworldly, and rules-bound Staryk, who are ruled by a wintry, gold-loving king. Secondary characters—a peasant boy, a duke’s daughter, a tsar—eventually become narrators, weaving interconnections that feel simultaneously intimate and mythic. Novik probes the edges between the everyday and the extraordinary, balancing moods of wonder and of inevitability. Her work inspires deep musings about love, wealth, and commitment, and embodies the best of the timeless fairy-tale aesthetic. Readers will be impressed by the way Novik ties the myriad threads of her story together by the end, and, despite the book’s length, they will be sad to walk away from its deeply immersive setting. This is the kind of book that one might wish to inhabit forever. (Publishers Weekly, 10 July 2018)
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New additions to eBooks at SMSA
EBOOKS
| General | Hepworth, Sally | The mother in law |
| General | Quick, Matthew | The night agent |
| General | Simsion, Graeme | The Rosie result |
| General | Smith, J. P. | The drowning |
| Historical | Shepherd-Robinson, Laura | Blood and sugar |
| Mystery | Block, Sandra | What happened that night |
| Mystery | Gilbert, Victoria | Past due for murder |
| Mystery | Pryor, Mark | The book artist |
| Romance | Hepburn, Holly | A year at Castle Court |
| Science fiction and fantasy | Lyons, Jen | The ruin of kings |
Past due for murder / Victoria Gilbert
A library director’s past and present lovers are the leading suspects in a case of murder. Amy Webber has been helping university lecturer and folklorist Mona Raymond research legends about fairies, missing girls, hidden gold, and mysterious lights from the Blue Ridge Mountain area, where Amy lives with her aunt. Mona is telling stories at a Girl Scout bonfire when Charles Bartos, a pianist, composer, and professor at nearby Clarion University who’d stolen Amy’s heart and then dumped her, suddenly appears. Mona lashes out at him, accusing him of stealing her research for one of his compositions. Charles had recently returned to the house he built in the mountains after the woman who replaced Amy was killed in a hit-and-run. Now Lacey Jacobs, one of Mona’s students, has suddenly vanished, and her friends are concerned. Amy’s worried about her current love interest, Richard Muir, a talented dancer and choreographer who’s suddenly become distant after working with Lacey in one of his classes. Richard was apparently the last person to see Lacey, who’d run from his office in tears. When the police look for Lacey, they find her in bad shape next to the body of Mona, who’s in even worse shape after being shot. Amy, who has a good relationship with the police can’t believe that either Charles or Richard is a murderer. So she uses her sleuthing and research talents to determine who else might have it in for the two women. With Lacey in a coma and her relationship in danger, Amy uses every connection she can work and puts herself in mortal peril searching for the truth. (Kirkus Reviews, 1 December 2018)
The mother in law / Sally Hepworth
Hepworth takes readers on a suspenseful ride as a family copes with the suspicious suicide of its matriarch. Lucy has never thought her mother-in-law, Diana Goodwin, liked her since they first met a decade earlier. Chapters in the first person from both Diana’s and Lucy’s perspectives reveal their deepest feelings and desires, highlighting past events such as the day Lucy married Diana’s son, Ollie, and Diana’s problems with depression after the death of her husband, Tom, moving forward to the time of Diana’s apparent suicide. The investigation of the suicide changes dramatically when police learn that Diana didn’t have breast cancer, as she had told her family she did. Furthermore, evidence emerges indicating she may have been murdered. Police question Lucy, Ollie, Ollie’s sister, Nettie, and her husband, Patrick, about their involvement in the possible murder, and each of them have motives, especially Lucy, given her contentious history with Diana. Hepworth’s short, punchy chapters keep the pages quickly turning while effortlessly deepening her characters. Readers will race to the end of this clever novel to find the truth. (Publishers Weekly, February 2019)
The book artist / Mark Pryor
Hugo Marston, head of security at the U.S. Embassy in Paris and a former FBI profiler, was the date of the beautiful and promising American sculptor Alia Alsaffar at the opening of her exhibition at Paris’s Dalí Museum. When she’s murdered at the opening, Hugo insinuates himself into the murder investigation, to the dismay of Paris police Lieutenant Intern Adrien Marchand. Since the opening was invitation only, the suspect pool is limited but motives abound. When Hugo’s girlfriend, Claudia Roux, is arrested for the murder, his incentive to find the real killer increases. Simultaneously, Hugo’s reckless best friend, former CIA agent Tom Green, is in Amsterdam tracking paroled bank robber and murderer Rick Cofer, who has a vendetta against both Tom and Hugo. This eighth installment of the “Hugo Marston” series brings back characters from previous novels in starring roles. Hugo is genteel and old-fashioned, using deductive reasoning to solve crimes, so there’s little violence. (Library Journal, 1 February 2019)
The drowning / J. P. Smith
An overbearing alpha male gets his comeuppance in this smart, creepy thriller from Smith. One summer day, when Alex Mason was an arrogant swimming counselor at Camp Waukeelo in the Berkshires, he left timid eight-year-old Joey Proctor behind on a raft in the middle of a lake. Joey inexplicably vanished, but Alex lied well enough to avoid blame. Twenty-one years later, he’s a famous New York real estate developer with a lovely family and a glamorous lifestyle. Then increasingly serious intrusions from his guilty past suggest that someone—or something—remembers Joey’s panic and wants Alex to share it. As it turns out, the immature, violent side of Alex’s nature doesn’t need much prodding to reveal itself. Smith nicely balances the borderline-supernatural events with Alex’s mundane struggles as his blustering defenses crumble. Sharp, clear prose is a plus. This is a remarkably adept performance. (Publishers Weekly, 5 November 2018)
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AUDIOBOOKS
| Animal stories | Metz, Melinda | The secret life of Mac |
| General | Montgomery, Marin | The ruined wife |
| General | Oliverio, Barbara | Passports and plum blossoms |
| Mystery | Adams, Ellery | A treacherous trader |
| Mystery | Amphlett, Rachel | Scared to death |
| Mystery | Ellis, Joy | Fire on the Fens |
| Mystery | Lin, Harper | Tea, tiramisu, and tough guys |
| Mystery | Mizushima, Margaret | Hunting hour |
| Mystery | Sennefelder, Debra | Murder wears a little black dress |
| Mystery | West, Maggie | Picked to death |
Hunting hour / Margaret Mizushima
In Mizushima’s suspenseful, meticulously detailed third mystery set in Timber Creek, Colo., Deputy Mattie Cobb is working with a therapist to process the complex emotions engendered by a recent case when she receives a call to go to the junior high school. There she meets the parents of student Candace Banks, who suffers from asthma and has gone missing without her inhaler. Mattie and her police service dog, Robo, to whom she feels closer than any person, search the wooded hill area behind the school and discover Candace lying dead in the brush. Scrapes on the girl’s face and hands suggest foul play. Mattie suspects Candace’s abusive father, who has a drug and gambling problem, but her investigative team can’t find any solid evidence against him. Mizushima offers a compassionate portrait of Mattie, who has distanced herself from her colleagues and her budding romantic interest, veterinarian Cole Walker, in this rewarding small-town police procedural. (Publishers Weekly, 5 June 2017)
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New Books — February 2019
The new books for February 2019 are now available to borrow, with new ebooks and audiobooks.
We hope you enjoy them!
- New books may be borrowed for a period of two weeks only and may not be renewed.
- Books remain listed as “New Books” for two months.
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